Thousands of Karachi children miss polio vaccination

KARACHI: As thousands of parents refused to administer the vaccine to their children, a significant number of children in Karachi remained unvaccinated during the city's seven-day polio eradication campaign, sources revealed.

At least 92,628 parents declined polio drops for their children, according to data provided by sources within the National Emergency Operations Centre (EOC).

Additionally, 197,461 children could not be reached by vaccination teams due to various logistical challenges.

The campaign initially set a target of vaccinating 2,194,900 children, but teams managed to administer polio drops to 1,918,966 children during the week-long effort.

The vaccination of children is crucial as in 2024, the total number of polio cases stood at 73.

To counter the resurgence, the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme, in collaboration with the Expanded Program on Immunisation (EPI), continues to conduct nationwide mass vaccination campaigns.

The health authorities have urged parents to ensure that all children under five receive the vaccine during the campaign.

It is important to note that Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world, along with Afghanistan, and the number of cases every year had significantly dropped in the country, until the recent spike in cases.

Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme explains that polio is a "paralysing" disease with "no cure" and "the completion of the routine vaccination for all children under the age of five" just provides them "high immunity against this terrible disease".